From the lovely people who bring us Anorak Magazine, comes the completely adorable PLOC Magazine. Ugh. In a good way! Look at the fab Alain Gree illustrations! Look at the poppy colour palette! Look at the sweet design! Wowee! You can get your very own copy here... or you can just look at these lovely pictures and have a mini-Ploc swoon!
1. An EP and Tote Bag from the super great Owl Eyes. Thank you, Owly lady! (valued at about $40) By the way, that is the Owl Eyes Lenko tee up there! We're not giving that away, but you can buy one here.
2. A bumper pack of cool stuff from Aunty Cookie including a Home Sweet Home Cushion, some fabric and decals and other treats. (valued at $100)
3. A pretty floral Cath Kidston tote via the lovely Lark family. (valued at about $40)
4. A pair of teensy-gorgeous pencil earrings, handmade by Victoria Mason (my studio buddy!) (valued at $55)
5. A crocheted pot-holder or two via yours truly (priceless)
6. A copy of the lovely Prints Charming book (valued at $45)
7. A one hour photo shoot with Cheryl Lin (valued at $240)
Thank you to these lovely people who have donated such GREAT prizes. I really appreciate you supporting us, supporting Dry July!
To be in the running to win these great prizes, you need to donate to our Dry July Team (as little as $2!)! Then pop back here to let me know you did. All donations are securely collected through the Dry July website and then directed to the Cancer Ward at our local Royal Melbourne Hospital. The winner will be drawn randomly and all Australians who donated via my personal page or the Dry July Meet Me At Mikes team page are in the running to win! Even if you donated ages ago. It doesn't matter, you're in again this week! You can even pipe up and tell us you already donated in the comments! Do that! Competition is open to Australians only and you need to enter by midnight 31st July.
Please note that the previous Dry July giveaway winner has not responded to my email! If you know Marissa B, let her know she won!!! I will hold the prize for her for 2 more weeks and then redraw a winner if we can't get in touch.
You might or might not know that I got to speak at the Australian Booksellers's Association Conference on the weekend. It was totally well worth giving up my Family Sunday to go and hang with the ace geeky book people, because I am an ace geeky book person too.
I spoke about the importance of building a community around your business, based on sincerity rather than spin. I waved my arms and pointed at my Powerpoint presentation and encouraged bookshops and book related types to use social media to smooth out the distinctions betwixt online and offline readers/customers. I told them to make their business, blogs and social media platforms an extension of themselves and to include their readers as much as possible, because they will have good times and learn good things. I talked about the importance of listening to the people who present themselves to you online and off, and about having meaningful exchanges (not just trying to 'engage'.) I told them to think outside the shop and to ignore geographical boundaries and show themselves, consistently. And I said that strategy is well and good, but sincerity should prevail.
So that was me. Phew. Probably that is stuff you have heard me say before, so feel free to skip ahead. Here comes the good bit...
After ME there was a GREAT session about a GREAT program. Way greater than my session, I must say. It was a session by The Indigenous Literacy Foundation. The ILF is supported by the Australian Book Industry and has some really great ambassadors like Andy Griffiths, Kaz Cooke, David Malouf and Katie Noonan.
If you click here you can donate to support this extremely important program, and help ensure that indigenous kids get a fair chance at literacy and access to quality books. There is a schools program too, The Great Book Swap, if you'd like to get your local kids involved. I think that's an ace idea!
Have a look and a listen to this video, not just because it features a bit of Dan Sultan, but also because it's full of important stuff you might not know yet. It's quite startling to note the literacy rate amongst our indigenous kids, we can do better, don't you think? It's completely fabulous to see the things this Foundation are doing to create bookworms and to ensure these rad kidlets have the kinds of books they WANT to read, too. I am sure you are JUST the kind of person who wants to get involved, aren't you? So why don't you do something to contribute to the ILF and send your support to these far flung readers and readers to be!
Thank you to EVERYONE who entered and thanks to Magnation and a huge CONGRATULATIONS to you, Ms Bron! Get in touch and I'll send you over to the nice, generous Magnation people to collect your prize!
You might know that I have been listening to Desert Island Discs a lot. It got me thinking about the place of music in my life, especially when I was growing up. Our house was always full of music, and still is, and I think that some songs or voices can totally transport you back to a different time and place in the life of you. Do you think that? I do. I wanted to trip back a bit, to a less grown up time and see which tracks and rock gods stood out. These are the ones that popped into my head without having to even think about it. These are the old favourites... (Please note : you might need to click over to see the embedded tracks and hear the songs!)
In our house, our very favourite band was The Beatles. My mum had lots of their records and I used to stare at Paul McCartney and wonder just what he saw in Linda and how on earth he was going to marry me when I grew up if he was betrothed to a blonde vegetarian lady. Oh Paul. We knew all their songs and sung them in the recorded order like one very long song with teensy breaks in it. Did you do that too? Learn the lyrics and order of songs on a tape or record so very off-by-heart that they morphed into one super track?!
As a little girl, living in an awesome 70s catastrophe of a house in Tasmania, one of the very first cassettes I was ever give was by Abba. I loved this song, I loved the sing-a-long chorus, I loved the Frida warble, I loved the faux starry night, I loved the campside Swedishness of it all. I even have a Fernando dress, now, as an adult. I did not have a Fernando dress THEN... I was most likely wearing embroidered jeans with patent red clogs and a cheesecloth top. And buck teeth. VERY significant buckteeth to match my crooked fringe and lopsided pigtails. I played this tape on my brother's hi-fi set-up. It was one of those spacey round ones and I was REALLY completely jealous of it.
Our extended family had a couple of shacks just out of Hobart, on a hill overlooking a little bay at Tinderbox. (Such a lovely name, I often wished I loved the STORY of The Tinderbox as much as the PLACE, but the PLACE had so much meaning it was unbeatable!) When we stayed in the first shack my Mum would play this band SUPER LOUD. Sometimes you could even hear it on the beach below. Go Mum! Probably she was wearing a kaftan and drinking Pimms at the time. She was hip like that.
Not to be outdone, my Dad would probably follow it up by playing this...
And Mum really did love these guys too. I did not love them then, but I really do now. I did not trust their writhey big-lippedness then. I was a bit embarrassed by their whole shtick. But NOW, I totally get them and I think they are rad... Probably I would prefer them not to writhe about too much now, as they are getting on a bit. But they can do their retro wiggling about as much as they like...
We moved from Hobart to Port Hedland when I was nine years old. Yikes. From one side of the country to the other. Gosh. I guess that might seem like HELL to you, but do you know what? I settled in really quickly and I loved the five years we had in the heat and the dust. There was only one high school and the community was close knit. It was all pool parties and socials and roller skating and trail riding. My best friend Yvonne and I used to live at each other's homes, watching videos, trying on jeans that were much too tight, writing in journals, looking for shorter shorts and above all, trying to transcribe the lyrics to every song we saw on Countdown. This song was the HARDEST. I still remember stopping and rewinding the tape over and over again (probably with a snippet of Casey Kasem's voice looping over and over at the beginning)trying to work out what the HECK these guys were saying.
If there was one eighties pop star who I REALLY IN MY HEART OF HEARTS wanted to be, it was Madonna. (Only the early years Madonna, though, not the later bits-flashing Madonna.) We left Port Hedland when I was 14, after gathering enough red dust and spinifex to last a lifetime and moved to Canberra. It seemed like the big smoke to me. There were shopping malls. There were discotheques. There was Sportsgirl. OMG. Ever crafty, I made my own Madonna outfits with the help of Make-It-Easy magazine, Mum's trusty Singer and LOTS of jersey fabric. It was all about the zig-zag stitch and there followed leggings, off the shoulder tops, scoop-side shorts AND TUBE SKIRTS. SO SO SO many tube skirts it is not funny. 262 bracelets, 4 Mickey Mouse watches, diamante earrings and pearl necklaces were de rigeur. Lace fingerless gloves, denim vests, white lace up boots. So GOOD! Madonna was so great back then. She even had a boyfriend called Jellybean. Sigh. I think we need the full clip of this one...
And finally, we need a bit of Kate. Kate made me wide eyed with what. I did not understand what she was all about, but combining eccentric dancing, rad outfits, classic literature and a who gives a toss attitude seemed like a good idea to me. Kate made me realise that who you are is perfectly great enough.
From Canberra, I moved to Melbourne... and this is where I have really grown up, fallen in love a couple of times, had babies, found my place and made my home. I have lived her for 25 years, longer than I have lived anywhere else, and I really do consider it my home (but not my home town, of course.) My grown up soundtrack is way different... I will save that for another time and place. But what about YOUR childhood soundtrack? Which bands and tracks did you grow up with? Do they hold a place in your heart now (mine do!), or are you WAY cooler than that?
I was on the tram today listening to a Podcast of BBC Radio 4's Woman's Hour. I am totes highbrow, I know. Check me out. There I was with my hat tugged firmly over unbrushed hair, jeans with the broken zipper over scuffed up Swedish Hasbeens, all topped off with a camel coloured slightly pilled up jumper, and I was nodding. Did you see me? Was I on your tram? Did you see my messy fashionability and my noddy head? Perhaps you thought I had tumbled out of an institution for the terminally dishevelled. Well I had not.
I had actually tumbled out of my shop, headed for the big commute to school and back (2 trams, 2 trains and a walk). I was armed with lots of new podcasts and I was determined to find out stuff. That is what podcasts are for. They are for tuning in to good stuff while you are stuck on a drippy tram with lots of interesting people you are yet to know. Podcasts (according to me) are for lifting spirits, provoking thoughts and finding stuff out. Sometimes they might even make you nod, like me.
It was in this noddy, trammy state that I was listening and thinking 'YES! You are right, Grace! You are making so much sense, Grace!' 'Holy Cow, Grace, you are my Homegirl!' Don't you sometimes have those moments where you hear someone and you think 'YOU ARE MY PEOPLE!!'? Well this was one of those moments. My people was Grace. If you listen to this podcast, you might make Grace your people too, (but maybe you won't, so let me give you a bit of a quick run down.)
As well as being about cooking a carrot cake, this podcast was focussed on Twitter and how ACE it is. I KNOW! It was not scoffing about how stupid Twitter was. Nope. It was singing its praises. Panelist Grace Dent was sharing some of her observations about Twitter (including the fact that she is quite obsessed with it).
Here are a few of the Grace things I thought were great ::
1. If you have more than 3000 followers, suddenly you feel very important and feel like you are the head of a hillside tribe all your own. Great.
2. When you get on Twitter in the beginning, you really do not know what it is for. You do not know what to do with it. Often you leave it alone and go off for a bit of a sulk. It's only once you gather a few followers and score a few replies, that it all begins to make sense and then it is retweets ahoy! Great.
3. Twitter has become the domain of clever, interesting, witty ladies who do not need to look like models or TV stars or Footballer's Wives to be admired. Great!
See that number 3? I like that BEST of all. Do you think that it's true? I DO! Words RULE on Twitter. Of course people like Kim Kardashian and Katy Perry will still have a jillion billion followers hanging on their every LOL. I know that. But the thing is, the people who really shine on Le Twit are those who can form concise, quick, well informed tweets and bang them out with great frequency. If you are funny or clever, you will be noticed, it's as simple as that. You do not need to do your hair. You do not need to lose 5 kilos. You do not need to wax your netherbits. Nope. You can be your own birdsnesty, plump, hairy self and still be loved for it on Twitter.
I am not, of course, saying that all the very best people on Twitter are unstylish or smelly. Not at all. Some of my very favourite people on Twitter are not only funny and clever, but annoyingly attractive too. What I am noticing, though, is that nothing about Twitter interestingness relates to your outside package. It's all about the things you think and say, and even if you ARE unstylish and smelly, we will peg our noses and marvel at your eccentricity, if you give good Tweet!
Don't you just LOVE that?! I love that. It's so democratic. It's so fair. It's so right. It's so how REAL LIFE should be. Twitter and even apps like Instagram give opportunities to 'shine with a snippet', in ways that mainstream media never will. These opportunities are based on substance, talent and sincerity. Spin just does not cut it.
What are your thoughts? Is Grace your homegirl? Are you birdsnesty? Or are your annoyingly attractive?
xx Pip
PS :: Grace's book is called How To Leave Twitter :: Here is an interview with her...
I have had a LOT of stuff going on. Shop stuff. Conference Stuff. Family Stuff. Secret Stuff. I'm stuffed up, in a completely great way.
Yesterday we had breakfast at Slowpoke on Brunswick Street :: that's Avocado and Feta on Toast and some Eggs and Soldiers up there. Then I prepped and headed off to the Australian Booksellers Association Conference to talk to their delegates about Social Media. They discussed all kinds of good things, amongst them National Bookshop Day, The Indigenous Literacy Foundation and Indie Bound. Andy Griffiths was there wielding a giant crocodile. Marieke Hardy MC'd the dinner. A pretty rad event, all 'round, methinks!
Today I had a very ace meeting with my friend Anna Brownfield and other good people about some good stuff we are doing. Then Anna took me to lunch at Mario's. Noice! Lucky I had a Dry July Golden Ticket unused, because THAT meant I could have two glasses of Prosecco with my lunch! Thank you to the lovely gal who bought me a Golden Ticket when I was having a rough day... I didn't use it then, but I did use it today to have a mini-Anna celebration. An Anna-Bration, in fact.
Gosh it was a rainy day here. I had to catch 4 trams and 3 trains sans umbrella (borrowed/lost by various other people who live in my house) so I am pretty soggy. I DID really love listening to some more Desert Island Discs during the damp commute, though. I love this one with David Tennant. He chose some great tracks by The Housemartins, The Kaiser Chiefs, The Proclaimers and Elvis Costello. I loved that he talked about finally feeling like one of the cool kids, always wanting to 'do better' and the things he said about growing up as the son of a Preacher. You might like to listen too?!
I'm a bit sad that I didn't get to Design Made Trade, because I had so much other stuff on. But luckily super-star Design correspondent Lucy DID go! You can check out her run down and Design Awards here!
I have been doing lots of commuting on public transport and walking over the last week, because our car is still at the panel beaters (after someone smashed it up running a red light.) I feel kinda weird unless I have something to listen to, and I find that music is a bit disconnecting when I am walking, so I've been downloading a ton of podcasts and listening as I walk or tram it.
One of my very favourites is the BBC Podcast, Desert Island Discs. I have only listened to the Debbie Harry one and the Cath Kidston one, but they were great (although annoying that the tracks get cut short due to licensing issues!) Desert Island Discs features a long interview dotted with the interviewees very favourite tracks. Here is the archive of all the Castaways, so you can take a peek!
Cath Kidston is a bit more rock n roll and down to earth than you might think..! She's really NOT all flowery and rosy! She's super ace, actually!!
:: TODAY = Paying bills, playing Monopoly (somehow those are related!), eating pizza (smothered in chilli and garlic sauce!) from Fatto a Manno, stuffing rolls with Salmon Patties, mayo and MORE chilli, having visitors, writing prompts for presentation tomorrow, warming toes, making corn & bacon & potato chowder, listening to budgies, crocheting ripples, sipping chai, spooning honey into teacups, feeding sausages to dogs... that kinda stuff!
:: REMEMBERING = family monopoly rules (for instance all the money you have to pay to Community Chest or Chance goes into the 'pot' and is WON by whoever rolls a double six!), every time we went to the butcher when we were kids, he would give us a free (cold) cocktail frankfurt (which we devoured!), small children up to their waists in the freezing Wintery waters of Coles Bay on a long ago holiday.
Networking. Shudder. Wince. I don't like it. I have networkingaphobia. I know... I am on an aimless path to rack and ruin and clueless unconnectedness. Yes. I am totally shooting myself in the foot. Maybe. I am not sure if I care about that, to be honest. I'm not a crack shot, so I'll probably actually be shooting myself in the leg of my coffee table, truth be told.
Maybe I just don't get the networking thing. I like to meet people, listen to people, talk to people... see what happens. I like that. But I don't seek to meet people in the hope that they can do stuff for me or introduce me to someone I know that they know. (Got that?!) I suppose I see networking as a kind of strategic buddying up. It's a little bit Mean Girls and a little bit Melrose Place. Possibly there is a flow chart involved somewhere behind the scenes, with names and aims in little bubbles and arrows pointing all over the place. I think networking is a bit like people chess (not the Musical, the GAME.) Maybe I'm being a bit harsh.
What if my own aimless meet/listen/talk is what networking really is? Maybe I am DOING it? Am I doing it? OMG. Eep.
Okay, let's try this... I like to gather up a whole bunch of people, online and offline, to form a kind of gang of goodness. I like to be part of that community of like minded pals, because there is power in numbers and we can get good stuff done and have good times together. I call it doing good. I call it being friendly. But maybe it's networking too? Am I doing it? OMG. Eep.
It's the WORD, too, I think. Networking. Ugh. NET-WORKING. Hm. Yes. I only like it when it involves people working on mesh-like, scoopy things to catch butterflies or tadpoles in. That's the net-working that is best. It's even a bit crafty, right?! No animals will be harmed, of course. We will look at them admiringly and put them right back where we found them. Friendly-like.
We engage (and it's not fiancee-ish.) We connect (and it's nothing to do with dropping those red and yellow disks into lines of four.) We move forward (and it's not putting one cutely clogged foot in front of the other.) We network. Ugh. Maybe we can shelve the networking in favour of just being friendly? And let's reclaim the fiancees and take them on a clog-shod stroll to a Connect 4 lounge for a rollicking good time? Thumbs up for scoopy mesh things! Thumbs down for people chess! Thumbs up for friends! Thumbs down for flow charts! We will not be pawns! Give us back our tadpoles!
Make lists of things you have already done, so you can tick them off and feel accomplished. Maybe just watch tv all day after that, and pretend you are tired.
Wear a poncho on a swing
Lovingly pat every dog you see and also ask them how their day has been, because not many people do that.
Draw on your shoes, because then they will be bespoke and you will feel fancy
Drink everything through a bendy straw, even if you are in a cafe.. ESPECIALLY if you are in a cafe. Bendy straws are the new moustaches.
I know. It's totally giveaway central over here at the moment! I can not help it! People keep offering me really rad stuff to pass on to you guys. Like ACTUAL THINGS I LIKE... not weird stuff like curtain rods or plastic fencing or paper towels. But actual really good things that I spend money on myself. I think it's okay to give good stuff away. I do. As long as it's things I love. I love this magazine. So here I go!
Would you like to win a Mollie Makes Subscription? Yes?! It's for six whole months worth of cute, crafty cleverness, and it's courtesy of Magnation! No more scrabbling down to the newsagent trying to secure this sought after gem.... You can get it in your letterbox. Don't leave the house! Stay in your pyjamas even! How good is that?! Thank you Magnation! Thank you Mollie Makes! Thank you for encouraging pyjama times... and crafty times too! How very supportive!
Enter by commenting below. Nothing fancy, just say hello! Giveaway closes midnight Friday 22nd July (Melbourne time!)
Please note that I have comment moderation turned on, but I will approve comments in batches today and tomorrow, so don't worry if you can't see your comment immediately!
Here is the winner of last week's Dry July giveaway! Every one who donated here was put in the draw, so hopefully I have managed an Australian winner! (If not I will redraw, and we'll do something else nice for Marissa!) NEXT week we have another giveaway to benefit Dry July. So stay tuned for that! We have some jolly good stuff, I can tell you!
Thank you SO MUCH for all your donations! Together our team has now raised just short of $2000. We have had over 60 donations! We are ranked 62 nationally. Help us get in the top 50! Go on! All funds are donated via the Dry July secure website, and go directly to our local hospital to help people who are fighting cancer.
A huge thank you to our lovely sponsors, too! Here are the details of the prizes once more....
The Prizes .... 1. A Gift Card to spend on whatever you like at The Hat Mansion : they have a great shop in Prahran and they have some really ace hats!! And scarves!! And even gloves!!! Go see! :: value $50 2. An Antarctica Cushion, handmade with extra love and care by the super clever My Bearded Pigeon who not only makes Antarctica cushions, but also many other delightful mappy pillows too! :: value $55 3. A Voucher from CAE Melbourne, so you can pick and choose the perfect course for you! I have always wanted to do a bread making course... or a Japanese cooking course, how about you?! :: value $100 4. Etched sterling silver Snowflake earrings by Jenna Appleton perfect to celebrate these chilly, shivery days, I think! :: value $30 5. Super lovely Butterfly Bracelet by Joolz who makes all kinds of vintage inspired and contemporary pieces for the stylish gal about town. :: value $24.95 6. Two double passes to Jenny Wynter's Fringe Festival Gig 'The Unexpected Variety Show' : Jenny has a blog too, just click that link and check out her perfect mothering and awesome guitar action. Methinks this is a really fun girls night out kinda prize, yes? :: value $80 7. A copy of 'Berlin Syndrome' by Melanie Joosten thanks to Scribe : it's a psychological thriller written by a Melbourne gal. How rad. Yes. :: value $29.95 8. A signed copy of 'Little Sister' by Aimee Said : a story for ace girls about sisterly glitches :: value $16.95 9. An super-neat-totes-awesome gift voucher from The Little Shop of Handmade : such a great prize because this shop is full of so many GOOD THINGS! Argh! :: value $50 10. A soothing and comforting tea pack from Crafting Health's new Craftea range :: we are big fans of Crafting Health here at Mike's esp because ace lady naturopath Sue Halliday is at the helm :: value $50 Total Prize Pool :: $486.85 :: OMG!
Hello! So, today I thought I had an appointment at 10... but it was actually NEXT week at 10. D'oh. But that was good, because I got to go for a bit of a hike down the street and get some things for dinner.
I am cooking Chicken, Chorizo and Potato Quesadillas. I am combining two ideas. This recipe by Thomasina Miers (who I adore, adore, adore!) and a chicken recipe based on the Mamasita chicken. I have the chicken marinating now... and then I am going to fry the chorizo and potatoes... and add them to the chicken (which I will simmer in the marinade for 20 mins or so.) Here is how I do the chicken.
***************
Pip's Mexican Style Chicken
This is really easy to make. I get the chillis I need from Casa Iberica.
1 kilo of chicken thigh fillets, no skin, fat trimmed
To Make The Marinade
2 dried guajillo chillis : seeds removed and snipped into pieces with scissors
1/2 chipotle chilli (I use the chipotle which are tinned in adobo sauce.... and I add a teaspoon of the sauce)
1 tablespoon of ground sweet paprika
1/2 tablespoon of ground cumin
1/2 tablespoon of dried oregano
1 tomato, chopped roughly
1 red onion, chopped roughly
2 cloves of garlic, peeled and chopped
juice of one lemon
2 tablespoons of olive oil
1 tsp of salt
1 tsp white pepper
Put all these ingredients in a food processor and pulse until it's a nice red paste. You can use a mortar and pestle for this if you like, but I shake all the crockery out of the cabinets if I do. Don't do that, will you?! Scoop it all out into a bowl and throw your chicken in for at least 2 or 3 hours to marinate!
To cook the chicken, heat a slosh of olive oil in a nice, big heavy based pan. Plonk the chicken in and arrange it neatly in one layer. Pop a lid on and simmer over a medium low heat for 20 minutes. You can turn up the heat at the end if you want a bit more colour on your chicken. Cut the chicken into pieces while it's still in the pan and toss in the pan juices.
You can season it with black pepper, coriander and a squeeze of lime to serve!
We have this in tortillas, usually, with lots of fresh salsa, guacamole and crunchy greens!
It's good with spiced rice and corn on the cob too!
If you want to get a bit more Mexican, don't forget Daniella's ace Mexican cookbook. And for even more deliciousness you can watch Tommi Mier's show here. She also has a rad Mexican cookbook which is a companion to her telly show. NICE! Did you know that Thomasina won UK Masterchef in 2005?! Maybe you know her from the Wild Gourmets? She's totally ace, and has gone on to such great things, hasn't she?! She just had a baby, too! Aww, cute. And clever.
(BTW, did you see those chicken burritos on Australian Masterchef, when they were in New York?! OMG! YUM!)
I really like searching for these kind of homes on those big real estate sites. This one is in Adelaide. How amazing is it?!! Loving the sea grass matting. Loving the wallpaper. Loving the special bedrooms. Totally time-warpy, for sure!
Um. I know I did post a few times today... but I keep finding good things. I want to be sure that you get to see them. Otherwise you might only see OKAY things. Good things are way better, don't you think?!
And you can read their blog here. It is full of things that hurt my stomach. This is because they are SUPER good things. Things which are colourful and happy and geometric and gorgeous. Ouch. Yay!
Tell me you don't need one of these in your handbag or in your pocket. Go on. I bet you can NOT tell me that, because everyone has days when the eclipses or vibrations or doofuses are bugging the heck out of us. Yes we do. Kim Welling is a really nice lass, because she's thinking of us and our little 'moments'. Kim has made these little Comfort Pocket Boxes to keep the antsy at bay. If you have one of these with you, it's totally better than Rescue Remedy.... Do you know why? Because Rescue Remedy does not have a fox, or cute little raindrops or sensitive bearded men bundled up with it. Nope. Thank you Kim. You have thunk of it all.
xx Pip
Found via typing random words in to Pinterest. In this case CHEER.
Of course we love Owl Eyes. One day she came to our shop with Jess and Jacqui. She was a completely adorable kind of lady. She actually has normal eyes, FYI.
Ms Owl Eyes is donating a prize for NEXT week's Dry July prize pack! How great is that?! Make a donation here if you want to be in the running for this week's prizes... then you'll automatically be in the running for next week's prizes too!!! Including the Owl Eyes things!!! Yes!!!
Are you on Google Plus? I only ask because I am a huge fan and I think it is so much cleaner and easier to use than Facebook. Perhaps you are not on Facebook. Do you know what you are? Well adjusted. I, however, am not well adjusted. I am on Facebook AND Google Plus. Let's be pals, okay? If you are the well adjusted kind, we can still be pals right here, because I don't like to hang out ONLY with social media addicts like myself. (If you want to search me up, I am Pip Lincolne. Mostly I am just posting nice links over there, recipes and crafty projects and generally positive things! AND I made friends with this great guy on my third day of G Plussing!)
In other news we have been trying to find a new doggy. We just missed out on one we super really wanted, due to some admin issues at the Dog Rescue place. Their server is eating all their emails, or perhaps their dogs are, so they did not even receive a single one of the emails/applications we sent (even our friends sent emails, so that server/those dogs are super hungry for emails.) I guess we just defrag and get over the 'loss' of the dog we missed out on, and then keep trying. Sigh. We really want a lovely gentle dog as a friend to Lucky. Since Rochester, the magpie, flew away Lucky is really a bit lost.
Elsewhere, I have been working on my new book, mostly, and hanging with the kids and making a huge amount of food. Ari has all of a sudden got the appetite of a whole swimming squad (after previously having the appetite of a gathering of butterflies.) Phew. So it's dahl, lasagna, Provencal chicken, butter chicken, tuna rice ahoy! Methinks he is growing up and will soon be driving me to school.
Pom Poms have started arriving for The Pom Pom Project! So that is exciting! They are SO SO SO great! Look at those photos up there! They are Pom Poms made by The Peregrine School in Nicholls Rivulet in Tassie! HOW GREAT! Please click here to see what it's all about, and find out about making Pom Poms.
Our car got smashed into about a month ago. Someone ran a red light and whammed straight in to the front of it. So we had a hire car for a wee while and now we are carless while she gets fixed up. It is quite relaxing not having a car, but also quite easy when it's school holidays. Next week school goes back and we might have to hire a car if we don't get our trusty wheels back in time. Bum. $5000 worth of damage! Lucky no one got hurt and I was actually at home on the couch when this happened. I think that is the best place to be if there is a smash. Yes.
Also, I should tell you that my blog is going to become a fully fledged website in the coming months. There will still be the same old Pip bloggy content, but also some other good stuff, sorted nicely into categories for ease of reading. I have so much stuff that I want to carry on about (in the nicest way.) People send me information about cool things they are doing every single day, but it doesn't feel right to post it on my personal blog, so I am making room for it in other places.
What are you up to? Do tell! Is it cold where you are? It's freezing here!
We are doing a super dooper giveaway this week! Holy Smoke! We did a bit of a last minute ask around on Twitter and look at how generous people were! OMG! Here are TEN things you could win! To enter our giveaway, you need to make a donation to our Dry July team! Tricky, no?! Dry July is a pledge to go alcohol free for 30 days to raise awareness and funds for cancer patients. All the funds raised are donated securely via the Dry July site, and our team funds go to The Royal Melbourne Hospital Cancer Ward. You can donate as little as $2, and all donations above this amount are tax deductible. You need to donate by Midnight on Sunday 17th July to be in the running to win. Please comment with your donation/receipt number to enter, once you have donated. Only people who have donated are in the running to win! Soz!
Phew. If you have already donated to our Team Page or my Personal Page, you will go in the running to win this automatically (if you live in Australia!)
So what are we giving away? Take a peek...! Some gifts are quite Melbourne-centric : but you can always gift them to someone you know in Melbourne : or give them back to me to re-gift for you! Anyone can enter. This giveaway is open to Australian readers only! I am sorry!
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click image to enlarge!
The Prizes .... 1. A Gift Card to spend on whatever you like at The Hat Mansion : they have a great shop in Prahran and they have some really ace hats!! And scarves!! And even gloves!!! Go see! :: value $50 2. An Antarctica Cushion, handmade with extra love and care by the super clever My Bearded Pigeon who not only makes Antarctica cushions, but also many other delightful mappy pillows too! :: value $55 3. A Voucher from CAE Melbourne, so you can pick and choose the perfect course for you! I have always wanted to do a bread making course... or a Japanese cooking course, how about you?! :: value $100 4. Etched sterling silver Snowflake earrings by Jenna Appleton perfect to celebrate these chilly, shivery days, I think! :: value $30 5. Super lovely Butterfly Bracelet by Joolz who makes all kinds of vintage inspired and contemporary pieces for the stylish gal about town. :: value $24.95 6. Two double passes to Jenny Wynter's Fringe Festival Gig 'The Unexpected Variety Show' : Jenny has a blog too, just click that link and check out her perfect mothering and awesome guitar action. Methinks this is a really fun girls night out kinda prize, yes? :: value $80 7. A copy of 'Berlin Syndrome' by Melanie Joosten thanks to Scribe : it's a psychological thriller written by a Melbourne gal. How rad. Yes. :: value $29.95 8. A signed copy of 'Little Sister' by Aimee Said : a story for ace girls about sisterly glitches :: value $16.95 9. An super-neat-totes-awesome gift voucher from The Little Shop of Handmade : such a great prize because this shop is full of so many GOOD THINGS! Argh! :: value $50 10. A soothing and comforting tea pack from Crafting Health's new Craftea range :: we are big fans of Crafting Health here at Mike's esp because ace lady naturopath Sue Halliday is at the helm :: value $50 Total Prize Pool :: $486.85 :: OMG!
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Last week's Dry July Giveaway was The Craft Minx :: it was won by CJ Gould. Yay to her!!
Please enter, and break a leg guys! Good luck! Chookas!
Behold the extreme gorgeousness of Ginette Lapalme. Argh. I am so completely in love with the things she makes. I am. I think she would like my Fox Quilt. I think she would. I really super dooper to the max like what she's up to, craftily. I do. I want to be her friend.
Meet Adelaide fella Stuart McLachlan . Holy smoke, Stuart's Paper Cut Party Hats beggar belief. I mean WOW. I mean WOULD YOU PUT THESE ON YOUR KIDLET'S HEAD? I mean, PROBS I would not! They might get vegemite on them, for starters.... or perhaps taramasalata. Anyhoo, look how gorgeous they are!
(Of course they seem to have been made for an editorial piece in a magazine, and not really for the rough and tumble of a party.) Aren't they beautiful? Sigh. I think all of Stuart's work is pretty amazing. Go take a peek. Thank you to Design Work Life for le tip. Thank you to Stuart for clever paper-cutty awesomeness of the non-hurty kind.
xx Pip
Edit :: I took the third shot down, but I thought she looked cute and sweet. Don't want to upset anyone, though. So sorry if I did. xx
Oh. My. Gosh. Agustina is the most adorable, gorgeous, talented girl! Oh. My. Gosh. She reminds me a lot of my friend Aimee. I think this is something you would do Aims....! Esp the car park dance, but also the hiding in the clothes and stitch, stitch, stitching!
I am reading a book. I know. Ah-may-zing, considering I have not even finished Pride and Prejudice (btw, if you would like to write a post about P&P for this blog, please let me know so all our book club members can share in it!)
Anyhoo, back to this other book. It's called The Happiness Project. Have you read it? Have you heard about it? (You can download podcasts here, if you like!)
I first heard of it via a trail I followed from David Gauntlett over here. (I really like what David has to say about everyday creativity. After I heard his term, I realised THAT is what I am all about. Not so much about making a thing every day, but rather about having a creative approach to things daily and having a dive-in-trial-and-error-wide-eyed-determined-capable-excited daily approach to craft, and life in general. More about having a go, rather than having it perfect. Don't let the perfect be the enemy of the good. )
The reason I have been thinking about all this stuff is that I have been writing a book proposal for a far away book. I want it to be super special and meaningful and fun. And I want it to be super positive. I've been thinking about craftiness and making things, for sure, but also I have been thinking about other things that really matter to me, the kinds of things that make people happy in general. I guess because making makes me happy, it's sort of lead me to Making Is Connecting and The Happiness Project. When the student is ready, the teacher will appear!
So, I've been trying to distill all the Things that keep me happy and positive into one Excellent Essence. Things like looking for the interesting and the beautiful and the colourful. Things nostalgic and laced with childhood memories. Things that smell good and taste good and feel good and are good. Things that stretch my brain into happy knots. Things that make me happy-tired. The little everyday things that can keep things peachy.
From a craftier and no less peachy point of view, I have been thinking about craft and community, big parts of my Excellent Essence and happiness. And about craft and family, craft and friendship. I've been thinking about how making things together and for each other helps us get to know ourselves and each other better. I have been noticing the benefits of feeling a bit dorky and disarmed, making crafty, happy mistakes in front of strangers (or indeed friends!) in the name of craft and community. I've been thrilling at the way sharing crafty skills, times and traditions connects us in really happy ways, just like David says.
Ah happy. Don't you think that often the simplest, most lo-fi things make us happy? Have you noticed that often unexpected, sometimes mundane things make us happy?
For instance, cleaning up a room and getting rid of crap we don't really need = happy
Getting up a bit earlier and having quiet cups of tea in a warm room = happy
Taking a walk every day and looking at the neighbourhood = happy
Remembering to stop and chat and laugh with someone you really like = happy
Being a bit more organised = happy
A tray of tea and a biscuit or two = happy
Smelling flowers with a big deep SNIFF = happy
Drinking more water = happy
A clean bathroom or a made bed = happy
So I bought The Happiness Project, which is all about these kinds of simple, happy, excellent moments. I have been reading it in the bath. And nodding. And smiling. And feeling excellent.
What makes you happy? Do you have an Excellent Essence?
Look at this. Oh Em Gee. Lucy made this video for Megan Washington. Go Washo. Go Dyso. Go Go Go!
It's really beautiful, isn't it? Imagine being able to make these kinds of things. That would be ah-may-zing. LUCY! This is so great. MEGAN! This is so great! MOLLY! Your sister is great! You are great! Great!
Would you like to make some Pom Poms?! We are collecting pom poms. And we are going to make a super cute window display with them. Would you like to help? Here is how to make a pompom! (The pompoms need to be woolly ones, not paper ones!) You can find lots of video how-tos here, too! Tee-hee! They can be any colour! And they need to be at least 4 inches in diameter (so make your cardboard circle at least that big!) Below is how to join in! They can be UP to 6 inches wide!
Let me know in the comments if you want to join in! I would LOVE it if you did! The more pompoms the better! We need them by August 1st! Get pom pommy with me! Go on!! I will show you the pom poms as they arrive, so write a little note, if you care to!
So the 30 day Vegetarian challenge ended. On day 33. I am back to my wicked ways again and especially enjoying chicken soup. I am going to do a Vegetarian Month every year, to be more mindful of what I am snacking on. But for now I am eating chicken and fish....
Here are some really great recipes for you, in case you have dusted off your slow cooker. I am using mine every day, to try and stay ahead of the hungry holidays and dinner game. I seem to be feeding the neighbourhood, too, which is nice!
I give you Five Really Great Slow Cooker Recipes...!
1. Chicken and Pesto Vegetable Soup :: I made this! I doubled the recipe and gave some to Victoria for her tea, too. It was really yummy. I added extra pesto and chilli in my bowl, when I served it. You could omit the chicken and use vegie stock if you are not meaty.
2. Provencal Chicken Stew :: I made this too! In a HUGE slow cooker. The family ate the WHOLE LOT. It's super yum. I know that you don't want to fry your chicken before you slow cook it, but you really should, because it adds a depth of flavour you won't get otherwise. If you don't eat meat, fry some potatoes and add those instead.. and maybe a tin of chickpeas. Yum. You'll want to reduce the cooking time by an hour or two, then.
3. Crockpot Concussion Beef :: Do you remember when the crockpot lid hit me on the head? This is what I was making at the time. It's really delicious served in tortillas with homemade guacamole, chipotle mayo and lots of salad and salsa. YUM. You can also make this recipe with beans, instead of beef. THAT is lip smackingly good too. Try and soak your beans overnight, lest things get fruity.
4. Slow Cooker Ratatouille :: I really love ratatouille. It's so comforting and full of colour and flavour. Slow cooking will get you a gentle, soothing bowl full of colour and health. This is good the next day as a pizza topping too. Do you want to do that? I do!
5. Slow Cooker Dahl :: OMG. Yum. Dahl works so brilliantly in the slow cooker. And then voila, you can just boil some potatoes, slice them into chunks when done and fry them with some mustard seeds, garlic, peas and turmeric (and lots of salt) for a quick Indian feast! Y to the UM.
What do you make in your slow cooker? Or do you not have one? They are really great, as long as you don't let them hit you on the head.
Also, my brother-in-law Andy is on Masterchef tonight. Ohmigodz! With Marco Pierre White. Gazooks!
PLUS, I had so many rad visitors in the shop today. Rayna and Michele and Jo! Noice!
Additionally, that bowl is Cathrineholm. How great is it?! So great. I have a couple of their stove top pieces and I love them so! Do you love them?
xx Pip
